Often, if possible, I make an effort to read original liner notes to any of the albums I share. I do so because, usually, it gives me an idea (or alludes to a certain sentiment) of what the original artist was trying to convey with their work. However, more often than not, other writers (much like myself) take up far too many empty pages opining on things that might not be germane to the music. What I rarely see, as I read on Forest’s Neutral Point, is them crossing the line into actually wishcasting ideas that the artist shouldn’t have to take on. Perhaps by providing a counterpoint I can better center this music on Forest.
Professor Tomiko Kojima of the National Museum of Japanese History was tasked to write original liner notes to Forest’s Neutral Point. Baring the subject line, “The New Music Of Forest”, this is what Prof. Tomiko wrote then:
Enormous changes are currently under way in the global history of music. Over the last few centuries the central position in world music has been occupied by the art music traditions of Europe. However, there were past eras when the musical traditions of the Middle East, India, and China achieved a much higher level of artistic sophistication than the music of Europe. The music of the world has been through several periods of transition in the past, and there can be no doubt that we are living in just such a period at present.
The orthodox traditions of Western classical music have reached an impasse during the late twentieth century. During these years by far the greatest musical impact on the world has been made by the jazz music created by Afro-Americans and by its offshoots such as rock in the field of popular music. But here too an impasse seems to have been reached. During the 1960s and 1970s rock music was full of a spirit of social criticism which gave rise to a succession of new styles, but the creative impetus which produced this phenomenon has now been lost.
What we are witnessing instead is the emergence of new forms of music created by previously marginal peoples on the basis of their own ethnic traditions. This is what is meant by the term “World Music” in its current usage. Peoples who have hitherto occupied a marginal existence in the history of music have acquired the ability to express themselves in musical terms with contemporary relevance. Their music has a strongly “ethnic” flavour which gives it a new and distinctive appeal. The current popularity throughout Japan of Okinawan rock groups can be explained in this light.
As if in response to this development, several distinctive groups with a strong “ethnic” character have begun to appear in mainland Japan. Forest is of course one of these. The especially noteworthy feature of this group is the new musical world created by Akikazu Nakamura, a musician thoroughly versed in shakuhachi music with a virtuosic technique as one expects from a member of the younger generation. Under their previous name Neo Oriental Session, this group has conducted a variety of creative experiments. But this first release under their new name Forest shows them to have acquired a more pronounced sense of musical individuality which makes their work far more interesting than in the past. As suggested by their previous name, their earlier work involved a pompous presentation of live sources such as Indian music and shakuhachi music. Under their new name, however, their music has acquired a much greater level of maturity.
My only slight quibble is that I would like the members of Forest to gain more knowledge of Japanese folk music. The main attraction of Okinawan groups is that they possess an intuitive knowledge of the language of Okinawan music, a language which they “speak” on an everyday level in the same manner as the Okinawan spoken dialect. Okinawans possess a rich tradition of classical art music, but it is the world of Okinawan folk music which underlies the work of Okinawan rock groups. Although shakuhachi music is of course music on the highest level spiritually artistically and expressively, folk music possesses different energy which it doesn’t. It will be by latching on to this energy and creating music based on it that truly authentic forms of Japanese “World Music” will appear. When Forest manage to do this, they will live up truly to their name, becoming a forest giving rise to an infinite variety of musical life.
From original liner notes to Neutral Point
As I read this, I kept thinking: “the road to hell is paved with good intentions”. I say this because, in my opinion, while Tomiko starts off quite well, expressing sentiments I agree with: I too view the rise of world music and the reintroduction of Pan-Asian music as a necessary corrective from a decidedly slanted Western and largely Eurocentric history of music. I too agreed with his take on jazz, that decidedly African-American creation, showing a way to demarginalize “ethnic” ideas from history and make music uncouple itself from the staidness of any classical tradition.
I too have come to the conclusion just how much the initial spirit of rock’n’roll has been on a downward spiral since the ‘70s. I too agreed with the necessity of new musicians to tap into new traditions to revitalize their creative outlook. It’s inspiring and revelatory to see musicians tap into a folk tradition before, ultimately, it gets lost to time, as we hear in all sorts of “world music”.
However, where I differ from the professor, is that I don’t think Forest or anyone needs to latch onto the energy of a certain folk tradition or necessarily understand the language of an ethnic past or of an ethnic tradition to create or advance “world music”. If anything, Forest’s short-lived existence and this meaningful album is a testament to how important it is for certain groups to express themselves from history and tell a new story (even if that means escaping from much of the baggage/lineage that tries to force you in a conservative direction). The goal of a musician is different from a writer and a critic, I believe.
Forest, as noted in the original liner notes, was largely the creation of shakuhachi musician, Akikazu Nakamura. It was in the late ‘80s, when Akikazu after years of performing around the world – from the U.S. to Europe and all of Asia and Oceania – took a sabbatical after gaining his master’s degree from the New England Conversatory of Music (after graduating Summa Cum Laude from the Berkeley School of Music) and decided to do something different.
As a shakuhachi player, Akikazu, appears to have done everything (or at least almost everything) a performer could. From mastering the use of missoku, the esoteric “circular” breathing necessary to create strong overtones for a more expressive form of shakuhachi music,i and performing the ancient meditative komusō music of Zen practitioners, his “trad” chops were unassailable. However, it would be the pull of jazz music that would draw something else out of Akikazu.
As a composer, Akikazu’s taste in music was less one-track minded and more far-reaching. As part of the Tokyo Kid Brothers he was able to explore pop, funk, and all sorts of other contemporary music. By 1989, seeking to explore a third-way of music, Akikazu began a new band dubbed, “Neo Oriental Session” with fellow Berkeley Music alum, bassist, Shunsuke Mizuno and ex-Prism and Geinoh Yamashirogumi keyboardist, Kiko Ito.
Seeking to move away from using their chosen instruments, as they had learned them, Forest was their attempt to use a mix of modern and “traditional” instruments to roll-in experimentations with the larger, global world music, free jazz, prog, and the wider musical avant-garde. Rather than remain boxed-in by their knowledge, they wanted to put that freedom to use.
So at Tokyo’s Psytech Studio in Tokyo, Neo Oriental Sessions (what was once a more meandering live jam outfit) transitioned into a focused neofolk unit dubbed, Forest. Under Victor Music’s ambient imprint, Zen Records, from August through September 1991 they created longform, far-out music closer to the youthful spirit of the group.
On songs like opener, “Fairy Tale”, you’d hear them transform strains of folk rock and prog into headier things augmented by Japanese koto and deep rhythmic grooves. On it you got to hear guests like Suzi Kim, Yas-Kaz, and Masako Kawamura take the music far closer to the original Animism present in truly ancient music. Shunsuke Mizuno’s “Sunda” re-orient’s Akizaku’s shakuhachi through the hypnotic strains of Indonesian music until Ikuo Kakehashi’s percussion takes it to more esoteric territory.
The distorted strains of Prism’s Akira Wada find a middle point between the math-y art rock of King Crimson and the ethno-ambient of the Forest crew on a song like “Photone”. Neutral Point, if one can take the album’s title to heart, tries to perfect a balancing act: go far future with ways that could be far past. Similarly, “Tsuru No Sugomori”, Akikazu’s reimagining of a traditional standard, coaxes, Coltrane-style, everything he can out of his chosen instrument, the shakuhachi, taking it beyond the edges of expressive, expression, landing on something far more primal in its nature (touching the crane’s nest closer than any can).
Takeshi Kobayashi lend’s his gorgeous guitar-playing to Forest on “Snow That Falls In Vancouver”, giving Neutral Point a wistful midway point where all can fuse their headier stew of heavy, floating music, into a more immediate, accessible version. “Blue~Flowing Sand” then stretches that feeling until it’s a thin gauze, treating us to an ethereal, ambient ambiance of it with touches of Hindustani vibrations.
As one hears Akikazu stretch the boundaries of the shakuhachi on album closer, “Eschatological Fantasy”, one can’t say this isn’t in possession of the energy of folk music. As one hears the rest of the group and Akira Wada join in to try to reach the same kind of expression, criss-crossing all sorts of traditions and inventions, bobbing and weaving until they land on just the right sonic tapestry, the sentiment (a cosmic truth) rings forever true: sometimes you’ve got to end history to start anew.
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